Words to live without

From today’s editorials: We agree with Bethlehem’s discipline of Police Chief Lou Corsi over a racial epithet, but that’s not the end of the story.

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The Bethlehem Town Board had an unenviable task in trying to figure out what to do about Police Chief Louis Corsi’s use of a racial epithet in a recorded phone call.

On the one hand is a 24-year veteran with no other such complaints against him that we know of, who the town board says directed the comment at no one in particular in what he thought was a private conversation with someone from outside his department. And, unlike a similarly offensive comment allegedly made by former Albany Police Chief James Tuffey, Mr. Corsi’s remark did not overtly imply that there are different standards of justice depending on the color of one’s skin.

On the other hand, this comment came from the leader of a law enforcement agency, who sets the tone for how it deals with the public. When a chief uses such a derogatory term so casually, it’s reasonable to wonder whether he and the officers under him enforce the law in an unbiased way.

Weighing all the available facts, however, it appears town officials arrived at a measured, appropriate decision: a reprimand, a 10-day suspension without pay, and an order to attend a cultural awareness program.

We hope that Chief Corsi learns the lessons to be learned here, particularly that the language he now says he does not condone is to be scrupulously avoided by a law enforcement official of any rank and in any situation. We hope that every officer under him gets that message, too.

Town officials — who ultimately set the tone for the chief and his department — also have some reflection to do here.

In the end, Town Supervisor Jack Cunningham properly calls the chief’s remark “insensitive, offensive and wholly inappropriate.” But the signals sent in this case suggest that up until now, the town did not quite have its heart in getting to the bottom of this distasteful matter.

The treatment of Patrolman Chris Hughes, who has had a long-running dispute with the chief and who brought the comment to light, raises questions about whether the town has attempted to retaliate against a whistle blower. Mr. Hughes, who says he’s been on sick leave because of how severely stressed he’s become, faces disciplinary action for not returning to duty and had his badge and town-issued weapons taken away after he talked publicly about the pressures he felt.

Now that the evidence has come out — teased from more than 50 DVDs containing four years worth of police department recordings — Chief Corsi has apologized. He says that he “did not intend any bigotry, harm or prejudice in my words,” and that “I do not condone this type of language publicly or privately.”

That’s heartening to hear. How much better it would have been if it hadn’t taken a four-month investigation and so much upheaval before we heard it.